Subject:
Re: [DCHAS-L] Lab Incident: Lab explosion in
Montana Date: October 23, 2009 3:03:53
PM EDT Previous post | Top of Page | Next post
They were baking off
some chlorophyll samples in methanol for the ash
free dry weight
method and for some reason it exploded. So the door
of the 105 degree
oven that contained the samples blew open and hit one
of our techs
throwing her against the ovens on the other side of the
aisle. She
ended on her hands and knees and was pulled to safety while
others
put out the small fire with an extinguisher. Per protocol
the
building was evacuated for about 20 minutes while the fire
department
cleared the scene. In the mean time our co-worker was
taken to the
hospital where she was x-rayed and received 6 stitches
under her eye.
She is back at work today with a big black eye and a
bruised arm. At
least I got my 15 minutes of fame by making the
picture in the paper.
All is well and we are back to work as
normal.
Grins,
Joel H. Felix
Chemical Terrorism
Laboratory Coordinator (CTLC)